Weekend Update 6/14/20

[Wlal13again]

They’re just posing in their party clothes. Trains carry some highly targeted or sensitive cargo and they need to be prepared to repel boarders... so to speak. You can thank the North Hollywood shootout in 1997 for the significant upgrade in police armaments as well as earlier events going back to the University of Texas tower sniper in the 1960’s for the upgrade in police armaments. 9/11 just magnified the trend. When the bad guys are packing heavy, the police need to be able to counter the threat.

And the Miami shoot out in 1986. That one event was a two week study in school

[ns737]

those barrels look great . if you plan on selling some I will take some.

[Philip H]

those barrels look great . if you plan on selling some I will take some.

Me too

[Nick Lorusso]

Those tie cranes are fun. You might want to check out my thread on my build. I fixed some of the bugs in it that really helped with it. One of my biggest issues was the arm being somewhat misfigured, but I fixed that with redoing the one hydraulic cylinder, slightly breaking it and CAing it into place. Made a big difference.

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=49110.0

Very nice work Ed. I was thinking about lowering my gons with the BLMA trucks and 1023s as well.

[SkipGear]

Me too

Let me get my final version printed, I tweeked the drawing last night, will print when I get home from work tonight.

[wm3798]

I have a short tunnel on the mine branch, which is really just the inner loop on the upper level.  Thinking I was being helpful, I installed a Trix re-railer in the middle of it, in hopes that any equipment that might stray from the rails on the tight corners of the old 7-3/4" radius  Trix track would be righted on this short straightaway.  In the end, it turned out to be more of a problem than a solution.



Unlike the more familiar Atlas re-railer, this has a slightly raised diamond in the middle, which is supposed to catch the flange of a derailed car and guide it back.  But what it does is create a hump that catches the underside of some of my smaller switchers, such as the mighty Davenport, causing a stall mid-tunnel.  So I pulled it up, and trimmed an Atlas re-railer to length, and and solved the ground clearance problem.  This nagging repair finally completed, it cleared the way for a little more scenery work.  First, I mudded in around the tunnel portal to fix it in place.



Next, needing to still access the tunnel from above, I layered on a bit of plastic wrap, then mudded in the rest of the area around the portal.  This gave me the necessary separation to be able to pull the top of the mountain off when something goes wrong.  I used tinted Sculptamold, and pressed in some plaster rock castings, which I also pre-tint.



Once that all set up, I got out my big bag of trees, some survivors from the old WM layout, some of more recent vintage, and some plastic Chinese mass produced trees, and jumbled them into the hillside.  A slight variety of colors and textures helps no single tree stand out, but keeps it from looking like a blob of puff balls or ground foam.



Turned out as nicely as expected... and it works!



Next work on the portal at the other end.
Lee

[SirTainly]

Only been noodling with trains lately, but did print these

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Very nice work Ed. I was thinking about lowering my gons with the BLMA trucks and 1023s as well.

Do it. It's absolutely worth the work.

[chuck geiger]

Getting this next month - Then it begins again!

[Steveruger45]

Ah, ready made double decked bench work including storage.  Do they make a helix module to match too?
Not sure why, but I see train layout possibilities everywhere. 

[chuck geiger]

Hoping to raise the top and use the bottom for a work bench and 2x4 on top. I have
a DKS plan ready 2 go.

[MK]

Getting this next month - Then it begins again!

Chuck, you becoming a beautician or some kind of make up artist?   

[chuck geiger]

Funny - It's in a beauty shop next door to my work.

[nscalbitz]

On a less military note, how about trimming messages once in a while - absolutely usually no need to repeat images when a smart-a$$ one line comment is all that is offered... ?
 
d

[CBQ Fan]

On a less military note, how about trimming messages once in a while - absolutely usually no need to repeat images when a smart-a$$ one line comment is all that is offered... ?
 
d

I actually like the full quotes with pics, etc.  Saves me from having to search through pages of posts to find the reference.